Paramilitarism

Six months ago, when news of the deal struck by the Chiquita executives with the US Dept of Justice hit the press, the Colombian public was justifiably outraged that none of the managers of the North American company would personally pay any penalty. The Colombian media - notably, Caracol, RCN, and Caracol - generously granted me air time to call for the extradition of the Chiquita executives. Although this point of view was quite popular in Colombia, the concept of extraditing North Americans to Colombia met with a great deal of skepticism. Nobody thought it was possible. After all, no gringo has ever been extradited to Colombia before. But now it's a real possibility.

Drummond Co.'s July legal victory over accusations it ordered the murders of three Colombian labor leaders has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

The US and Canadian governments repeatedly point to a recent reduction in the number of Colombian labor leaders killed as justification for a free trade agreement. However, in actuality, the intensity of attacks against Colombian workers has increased, not decreased, under the Uribe government—and state security forces are directly responsible for an increasing number of the abuses.

At about 4pm on 27th September 2007, ANDRES DAMIAN FLOREZ
RODRIGUEZ (son of JOSE DOMINGO FLOREZ, a worker at a Coca-Cola bottli ng plant and a leader of the trade union SINALTRAINAL) was returning from college to his home at No 204-102, 38th Avenue in the Andes barrio of Floridablanca in Santander when he was accosted by three individuals from a black van, they were carrying arms, communications radios and were wearing balaclavas. The three men took Andres in the van by force, threw him on the vehicle floor and started hitting him.

What is most remarkable about the political situation in Colombia is not just the high level of state-sponsored violence against the popular organizations and their leaders, but the high level of courage and resistance from a people who refuse to be crushed or intimidated, even by masked assassins who come in the night.